What is the truth
by tam356
Summary: What happened after New York in season 5? Was Ezra actually A? Did aria go crazy? What happened next
1. Chapter 1

I walked slowly down the street, my head was pounding my eyes were killing me and I just felt like I was falling apart.

One week ago, me spencer, Em and Hannah had just got back from New York, bringing our best friend Ali back with us. we'd been through a lot in the past two years, a hell of a lot.

Everything was a mess due to some anonymous person out to ruin our lives, me, my best friends and everyone closest to us.

Things had been tough, really tough. We had been so fragile constantly wondered what had happened to our best friend, Alison. Obviously someone could see how hard it was for us and they took advantage.

It all started off with cruel text messages from a anonymous sender. They marked there text with 'A' and that's where our journey began. We tried everything to see who 'A' was. We wouldn't of tried to find them as much as we did but this 'A' person knew every one of our secrets.

Eventually we found out Mona, Hannah's friend was 'A' she was jealous of Hannah's friendship with Ali and the rest of us. She was admitted to radley, a hospital for people who suffered a sickness. Mentally ill.

It should've stopped there but it didn't. Personally I think Mona is still behind it all. A lot has happened since, we found out Ali had in fact not been murdered but she was too being harassed by 'A' and was a long time before she disappeared. It all began to make sense but we were all still running scared of 'A'

I was such a mess and for once it wasn't just because of 'A' it was because Ezra, my boyfriend got shot while we were in New York. Well he's not my boyfriend he's my ex as much as that kills me. Ezra was dating Ali before she died and he was only with me for research. He thought one of us killed Ali and he was writing a book about us. Every little secret about us was in that book. I was devastated. Not nearly as much as when he saved all of our lives in New York and he got shot. I felt like my life was ending fast.

I could t get my head around anything. I started checking on Ezra making sure he was okay and I could feel myself falling for him all over again even after he had betrayed me so much. Actually I wasn't falling for him because I never fell out of love with him.

Everything changed 48 hours ago. The girls dropped a bombshell on me. They told me Ezra was 'A' but how could that be possible? He was the most down to earth sweet gentleman you would ever meet.

Everything added up though, they found his layer, and they had a ton of evidence. I left Spencer's house and I headed home crying my eyes out. New York was his cover.

I never got home, I still had my fake ID Ali got for us two years before, so I headed to a club. I drank and drank and drank. I lost count of the boys I had kissed. I went to a house party and probably made the biggest mistake of my life. I slept with Noel. I knew he was safe because he had helped Ali out. I'd clearly made a mistake with Ezra so I went with with bad boy Noel who I'd been crushing on for some years before Ali went missing.

The house party went on until late afternoon the next day. We freshened up and headed back to the club. I got so drunk that all I was able to do was think and have guys all over me. I was hurt and I was a mess. I thought about Ezra a lot, even though I knew what he had done.

I wobbled more or less out of the club to smoke, I didn't do that but I liked it, not the smoking but I loved being free. Everyone though they could walk all over me, I was an easy target. Everyone went back inside and I stayed out a bit longer, more smoking.

I raised my head as u saw Ezra. There was another person shouting at him. This other person looked much like 'A' looked. All dressed in black. He had Ezra by the throat, pinned up against a car and I could just make out what they were saying. "You do as I say Ezra, there's no backing out of this. If you want you precious girl and her friends safe, you abide by my rules!" Is what I hear shouted.

What did that mean?

Was Ezra being threatened? Was he not 'A'?

Ezra was thrown to the floor and the other person got in the car and drove away. I was smart enough to video it, I was drunk but I'm not stupid.

I sent out SOS message out to the girls and told them to meet me at Ezra's I knew they'd come because they thought Ezra was 'A' they'd think I was in danger, and after the constant messages I'd received from them wondering where I was, I was pretty sure they'd be straight there.

I fell to the ground with a scream hoping Ezra would see me, it was faked but the alcohol did have a little reality to it. As I thought Ezra was straight there.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" He asked me. I lifted my head up as painful as it was. "Oh my god, Aria" he more or less snapped.

"Ezra"

"Where the hell have you been? You e been missing for two days" he said, lifting me up. "Having fun" I slurred, laughing.

"You're coming back to my apartment" he said, putting his arm around me, balancing me up.

"No!" I snapped. "You're 'A'"

"I know that's what you've been told but I'm not Aria, I promise you I'm not" he pleaded. My head fell into his shoulder as the tears I tried to keep in escaped. "I'm so sorry Aria, I'm so sorry this is happening to you and your friends" he told me, that was the last thing I heard him say before I woke up, he banged my head on the doors to the entrance of the building where his apartment was.

"Ugh" I moaned. "Are you okay?" Ezra asked me with a concerned look. This wasn't some sick dream then.

"Hey! What the hell have you done to her!?" Hannah shouted. I looked to them their faces full of fury. "Get your hands off her now" Em snapped storming over. They all took their turn to have a go at Ezra.

"He's not 'A'" I told them, clearly shutting them up. "Aria you're drunk, you don't know what your doing right now" Emily calmly told me.

"You're not listening to me! I saw something, you need to listen to me!" I snapped angrily, it was probably because of the alcohol but everyone was taken back by my sudden outburst.

"Aria!" Hannah snapped. I raised my eyebrow with full blown attitude.

"Leave her alone, she's right" spencer said. I smiled at her softly. Everyone turned to her, even Ezra. "We are constantly making mistakes about who 'A' is, let's not keep making the same mistakes" she said.

"But.." Hannah began.

"No buts Hannah, Ezra made a mistake he followed us purely for his writing and justice for Ali, yes he hurt Aria along the way but he does love her. Don't you think we should just hear him out?" Spencer said.

By this point I was crying, again. Ezra was still holding me and honestly I just wanted to burst into tears.

"Fine" Hannah said, Emily agreeing. Ezra gave spencer the keys.

"Thank you spencer" Ezra said, and then he led us all inside, all of us hoping we were wrong about him, especially me.

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	2. Chapter 2

We all sat around Ezra's apartment, no sign of any conversation. The girls all stared at Ezra and not in a nice way.

My attention turned to Spencer, who seemed to look everywhere but at Ezra and me.

"Anyone gonna say anything then?" I asked harshly. Nobody answered me, which only made me more annoyed.

"Well you all had plenty to say earlier, what's stopping you now?" I snapped.

"Aria" Ezra sighed, trying to calm me down. "No Ezra" I said shrugging him off.

"I get why you're mad aria, I honestly do but these girls are your best friends. They got it wrong, you've all got things wrong at times but this is 'A' don't let whoever it is come between you guys. You girls are best friends you've been there for each other through everything" Ezra said.

I looked down knowing he was right. He rubbed my arm, was it so hard for us to know the truth?

"Who was threatening you earlier?" I asked Ezra.

His eyes widened a little, obviously thinking I hadn't seen what happened earlier.

"Someone threatened you?" Emily asked him.

"Yeah" I answered when he didn't. "Someone had him pinned up by his throat against a car, warning him that if he wanted to keep me and you lot safe he had to stick by his rules, it was a guy in a black hoodie, that's all I could make out" I said.

"Oh my god, was that person 'A'?" Spencer asked.

Ezra sighed rubbing one hand over his face. "No I don't think so, I think this person was working for 'A' he wants me to plant a phone in Mona's bag" he admitted.

"What? That means Mona can't be 'A'" I announced.

"Mona was ill, she's not a horrible person, Ali just turned her into something she wasn't. Mona can be the best friend you wished you had" Hannah told us.

"What do you mean by keeping us safe, what will happen if you don't plant the phone?" Spencer asked.

"If I don't do as I'm told, Aria will be hurt at the charity ball at midnight" Ezra told us, his expression told me he wasn't prepared to take that risk.

"Why does 'A' hate us so much" Emily sighed.

"Well that's it ain't it?" Ezra said. We all looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked him.

"Well it's obvious, 'A' must be someone you know, either Ali or you must of pissed he or she off at some point, it can't just be anyone" Ezra said.

Well I suppose that made some sense. "He's right" we turned around to see Ali just closing the door behind her.

"Where've you been?" Hannah asked. "My dad wouldn't let me out, anyway like I said Ezra is right, we must've at some point upset or angered 'A'" Ali said.

"Erm, you mean you must have" Spencer said.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Ali asked her.

"You was a complete bitch to anyone that got in your way, you thought nothing of making people feel like they were worthless compared to you, even your best friends" Spencer almost growled at her.

"I know that and you'll never know how ashamed I feel of the person I used to be, but don't you think I've been punished enough?" Ali said.

Spencer mumbled something that none of us could hear.

"I know none of you believe me but I've changed, and I will prove it, I owe you that at least" Ali said.

"So who was this person working for 'A'?" Hannah asked Ezra.

He looked at us all but didn't answer. "You know the one that threatened you. She added.

"Guys.." Spencer said, looking nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She was quiet for a moment before she looked directly at me.

"I've been re watching the camera footage for the last 48 hours and it wasn't Ezra I saw on there, I made a mistake, I'm so sorry Aria" Spencer said.

I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. "Who was it?" Emily asked.

"I'm guessing this person is working for 'A' and it's the same person who was threatening Ezra" I said.

"Once I tell you this, there's no going back, you can't un hear it... And this isn't gonna be easy to fight him" Spencer said.

"Spence! Tell us!" Hannah snapped agitated.

"Alright! It was Holbrook"

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	3. Chapter 3

**For Mona**

"Wait? Holbrook as in the police Holbrook?!" Hannah almost squealed it out.

I suddenly felt myself sobering up, quickly.

"Spencer are you sure?" Emily asked her, a very serious but shocked expression on her face.

"She's sure" Ezra said.

"Wait... Was it Holbrook that threatened you?" I asked Ezra.

"Yes"

Ali cleared her throat and we all looked at her with raised eyebrows, she knew something more, she always did.

"Go on, Ali" Spencer said, rolling her eyes a little.

"Oh don't give me that look Spencer. I was just trying to see what he knew. I think he might have threatened you because of me" Ali said.

"What did you do?" I asked her.

"I sent him an anonymous text telling him I'd report him for kissing Hannah if he didn't tell me what he knew about us" she admitted.

"Ali! What the hell? I kissed him and it was a mistake" Hannah snapped at her.

"Well it worked, he knows about aria and Ezra, which is no secret to be honest... He doesn't have anything else that could bring us down" she said.

"Great. so you blackmailed the police, to find out what we already knew" Spencer said.

"I was desperate!" Ali snapped back.

"Alright, so why was he threatening to hurt Aria?" Emily asked Ezra.

"He had a note in his desk saying that I knew Ali's kidnapping story was a fake, obviously one of 'A's' stunts" Ezra claimed.

"So we know nothing! Great" Hannah sighed.

"Well that's that then, back to square one" Emily said, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Hannah asked her.

"Home, while I wait for another text from 'A' rubbing it in my face that we are completely clueless once again" she sighed.

Everyone followed her out until eventually me and Ezra were the last ones in his apartment. He tilted his head a little and smiled at me sympathetically.

"You going to be alright?" He asked me.

I nodded at him then smiled back softly. He stepped forward and put his arms around me, pulling me tight against his chest, before kissing the top of my head. There was honestly no better place than being in Ezra's arms, I felt safe and warm. Although I still hadn't got around to forgiving him about the whole book thing.

I pulled out of the hug and stretched to a smile. "Goodnight Ezra"

"Goodnight, Aria"

I walked slowly down to the street, Spencer's car horn beeping at me certainly woke me up. I rolled my eyes and got into her car.

"You're stopping at mine tonight, by the way" she informed me.

"Good idea, I'll just text Mike" I said.

"What about your dad?" Spencer asked me.

"He's been working out of town all week, he wouldn't even know I haven't been home for the past two nights" I told her.

"What the hell?" Spencer exclaimed.

I looked at her wondering why she found it so weird my dad had been working away, but soon realised she was concentrating on something much different.

Spencer pulled up outside Mona's house, followed by the other girls behind us. There were police and ambulance everywhere. We got out of the car and walked closer, joining the growing crowd.

"Hannah!" Ali shouted. We all watched as Hannah raced over towards Hannah's mum, who was crying and screaming hysterically.

"Was Miss Mona Vanderwaal murdered?" A reporter asked Holbrook. "We are treating this crime as a murder although we have no body" he admitted before walking away.

"Oh my god" Emily said.

We all stood there in shock. Mona was dead.

We eventually managed to drag Hannah away from Mona's mom, she wasn't in the best of ways so we all went back to Spencer's.

The drive back was quiet, only Hannah's phone bleeping.

"Do you want me to answer that?" I asked her.

Hannah passed her phone to me. "It's just voicemail" she sighed, leant against Emily.

I put her phone on speaker, we were Ll soon alert as we heard the voicemail, it was from Mona.

"Hannah, it's Mona. I need you and your friends to come over now, I know who A is and I can prove it" that was all we heard before she hung up.

"Oh my god, do you think A killed Mona?" Emily asked us.

"I'm going to find A and going to kill that bitch" Hannah said, angrily.

"For Mona" she added.

"For Mona" I also added, the girls agreeing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Murder**

The next few days were awful. We were more or less harassed by the police, they all thought we ha something to do with Mona's murder. They didn't have a body but there was so much blood in the house, nobody could have survived that.

Ali was the main suspect. The police interviewed all Mona's friends and they didn't beat around the fact that Ali and Mona hated each other.

We were all sat in Spencer's bedroom thinking of ways to get out of A's traps, Spencer's blood was found on Mona's jeans and there was also camera footage of a girl who looked much like Ali, throwing Mona down the stairs and beating her until she eventually stopped screaming.

So Mrs Hastings had managed to get both Ali and Spencer out on bail. This was quite obviously an A trap, only this time he/she wanted to out two of my best friends in jail for the rest of their lives.

"Spencer!" Mrs Hastings shouted her from downstairs, and she didn't sound very happy.

"Ugh, what now" she mumbled, dragging herself off the bed. Mrs Hastings was through the bedroom door just as Spencer got off the bed.

"Woah Mom"

"Good, your all together" she said, panting for a breath.

We all looked at each other warily, it wasn't very often Spencer's mom got nervous.

"Mom.. What's going on?" Spencer asked.

"You girls need to go... Now" she said, throwing Spencer's things into a bag.

"What's going on?" I asked her.

"The police have put out a warrant for your arrest, all of you. They're charging you all for Mona's murder" she said.

"But we didn't do it" Emily said, standing up in a panic.

"Mona was one of my best friends , why would I murder her?" Hannah asked angrily.

"I believe you girls, I do. That's why I'm getting you out of here" she told us.

"Mom, we can't just run away" Spencer said.

"Your not running away Spencer, your taking a break in Emily's cabin, you all are" she told us. "I'll hold the police off, you girls can enjoy this weekend while I sort this mess out"

"Mrs Hastings, I don't think-" Emily began but was cut off.

"Your parents agree with me, so drive to the edge of the woods and your parents will have your thing so go" she said.

"Go, the police are in their way" she snapped.

We all jumped off the bed and hurried to Spencer's car.

 **/./././././.**

As we were told our parents met us at the woods before they shoved us off to the cabin. At least our parents believed we had nothing to do with Mona's murder.

We all got out the car after a silent drive and got our things out of the trunk.

"Well if this is our last weekend together best get inside" Hannah said, walking off with her own bag.

"Hannah" Emily sighed.

We all followed her into the cabin, leaving our stuff by the door as we got in. We all stood at the door way shocked by what we saw. The cabin had been broken into, there was smashed glass everywhere and everything was trashed.

"Omg" Emily gasped.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone's still here" she said.

Before we had a chance to take that information in, Spencer was hit over the head followed by Emily. Me and Hannah had just enough time to turn around to see who we could only presume to be A. This person was dressed in all black along with the signature black hoodie and gloves.

"Run!" Hannah said, before she actually did run. A, hit Hannah over the head too and suddenly all I could see was my friends lying on the floor. Luckily Ali had gone to Georgia instead of coming with us.

I shot for the stairs and it unsettled me that A didn't follow me. I hid in the bathroom but I started to worry after 10 minutes. I creeped down the stairs and managed to get outside and that was the last thing I remembered.

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